2022 March Madness Round 1 & 2: 68 Team Social Analysis

March Madness is back and better than ever. A comparison of cross-platform engagements from the 68 men’s basketball teams in the tournament in 2022 (March 15, 2022 – March 20, 2022) compared to the 68 teams in 2021 (March 18, 2021 – March 22, 2021) show that this year’s teams racked up 45% more engagements during the First Four, Round 1, and Round 2.

In this blog, we dive into the performance of each platform and rank those who did it best.

Cross-platform Analytics

• Total cross-platform engagements from this year’s 68 teams increased from 6.51m in 2021 to 9.56 million in 2022.
• Average cross-platform engagements per post increased 16% from 1,259 in 2021 to 1,465 in 2022.
• Average posts per team increased from 76 in 2021 to 95 in 2022.
• Average videos posted per team increased from 20 in 2021 to 23 in 2022.
• Average cross-platform engagement rate increased from 3.02% in 2021 to 3.14% in 2022, which is impressive considering the average total cross-platform followers per team increased by 47% in the year since the last tournament. The average total cross-platform followers per men’s basketball team in 2021 was 223,301 and increased to 328,357 in 2022.

Total Engagements Ranking

UNC was the first and only team to crack one million cross-platform engagements during the first two rounds of the tournament.

Cross-platform Engagement Rate Ranking

Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team, who is only the third 15-seed in history to reach the Sweet 16, had the most engaged fans of the week as they tailed an impressive 35.49% average cross-platform engagement rate across the first two rounds of the tournament. March Madness fans always love a good Cinderella story.

Facebook Analytics

64 of the 68 men’s basketball teams were active on Facebook in the first two rounds of the 2022 March Madness Tournament.

• Total engagements increased by 979,412 to 1,690,945 73% increase.
• Total views decreased from 3,229,952 to 2,981,748 a -8% change.
• Average engagement rate was 2.78% in 2021 and 2.74% in 2022.
• Total posts increased by 52% from 782 total in 2021 to 1192 in 2022.

Instagram Analytics

All 68 March Madness teams were active on Instagram during the tournament at some point.

• Total Instagram engagements from the 68 teams included in March Madness during the first two rounds of the tournament totaled 6.06m, up from 3.91m in 2021, a 55% increase.
• Total posts increased from 857 in 2021 to 1309 in 2022. Teams also posted 25% more videos in 2022 than 2021.
• Engagement rate decreased slightly from 10.1% in 2021 to 9.35% for all teams on Instagram year over year.
• Average engagements per post also decreased from 4,561 to 3,527 year over year. However, average engagements per video increased 15% YoY from 3,676 to 4,229 on average.
• The average Instagram following of the teams in 2021 on Instagram was 61,292, this increased by 44% to 88,356 in 2022.

Twitter Analytics

All March Madness Teams had an active Twitter account during the first two rounds.

• Total engagements from teams on Twitter during the first two rounds of March Madness increased from 1,625,302 in 2021 to 1,808,313 in 2022, a 11% increase.
• Teams also posted more on Twitter than the previous year. Total posts increased to 58, from 52 in 2021.
• Average Twitter engagement rate increased by 26% from 1.24% in 2021 to 1.56% in 2022.
• The average Twitter following from teams in 2022 increased by 47% year over year from 112.3k to 156.7k.

There were some large swings in types of content posted to Twitter as well as average engagement rate for different content types from 2021 to 2022.

• 27% more photos were posted in 2022 compared to 2021 on Twitter despite a decrease in average engagement rate of photos by 16%
• There was no change in volume of text posts on Twitter, each team averaged seven text posts during the first two rounds, however text posts experienced a 336% increase in average engagement rate in 2022 vs 2021.
• Links, Replies usage increased while average engagement rate decreased.
• Fewer GIFs were used this year, which resulted in a 45% higher average engagement rate when used.

Top Content

Top content was mainly content that is non-game related. Interesting because it shows that even when teams aren’t allowed to post in-game content until after game ends, they are still finding ways to succeed on social with those moments that TV cameras don’t capture.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Carolina Basketball (@unc_basketball)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Duke Men’s Basketball (@dukembb)

St Peter’s out here showing that a boxout graphic can still succeed on Twitter when you’re this year’s Cinderella story.

HOW SWEET IT IS!!!! YOUR PEACOCKS ARE HEADED TO THE SWEET 16!!!!!!#StrutUp🦚 pic.twitter.com/96VPfTtX1x

— Saint Peter’s Men’s Basketball (@PeacocksMBB) March 20, 2022

All data reported on in this report was sourced from Conviva Social Insights Leaderboard product, specifically the March Madness Men’s Basketball Teams 2021 and 2022 lists.